Mattie McGrath (Tipperary, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I compliment the movers of the motion here tonight. I know the Minister of State is new and I cannot blame him for all the ills but we are punishing farmers and other people. We saw Glanbia on the border of Kilkenny and its petition to An Taisce. The single biggest polluters in this country are local authorities right from Mizen Head up in Donegal down to west Cork. They are the biggest polluters everywhere. I could name 25 villages in Tipperary waiting for sewerage infrastructure. They are belching raw sewage into streams and rivers. The Environmental Protection Agency, EPA, comes out, goes above the plant and takes the samples. It is a disgrace and the Government is then penalising people.

People want to build houses on their own land but cannot get planning without umpteen conditions attached. Deputy Verona Murphy is right about the Office of the Planning Regulator. We never had it before and we managed fine without it. Why do we need it to interfere in densities and whatever else in the middle of a housing crisis when people want to build houses? Cut the taxes and the VAT. The Government takes somewhere near 45% back from people who are trying to build.

There has been an explosion in costs. Most small builders now will not give a quote for a house because they cannot afford it. The merry-go-round goes on and houses are not being delivered, full stop. My offices are inundated with people being given notice to quit and landlords taking back houses to sell them. It is unbelievable that only five or six properties are available in the whole of County Tipperary. It is a nightmare for people.

I was talking to a priest today about a family that is living in a room. A child this morning in a village in County Tipperary had to eat his cornflakes from a bowl at the side of his bed. There have no cooking facilities. All they have is a fridge. We need to change the way we do things. Instead of that, the Government is totally out of touch and piles on more, talks to the Construction Industry Federation and gives it grants to build houses in Dublin. It is not working. We need radical change. We need a sea change and we must get it. I do not see any possibility with the crazy amount of red tape and bureaucracy.

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